Our New Home for 9 Days

Our time in the airport was filled with mixed feelings. Some relief that all the hard work for the last few days was over, anxiety over whether all of our bags would be allowed, panic at a phantom gate change, and finally a little bit of relaxation as the door to the plane was closed leaving an empty seat between me and Mark. Here’s our last view of the Canterbury area.

The relief and relaxation was a bit short-lived however as we had to hit the ground running. Our flight had been changed on us by JetStar to a later time, and then the flight was delayed. When Mark called to let the campervan rental place know of our delay, a very unsympathetic employee let us know that their last check out for the day was 4:30 p.m. (Our plane was due to arrive at 3:50 p.m.!) We considered having just Mark go to get the campervan but the shuttle to the rental place took just long enough that we had all of our luggage off the plane and ready to go before they arrived. The kids did an amazing job of collecting luggage and transporting it to the proper locations.

We did indeed get to check our campervan out that night as the last bits of daylight faded. We got the Reader’s Digest version of how to operate the various switches and buttons. At one point I was told we’d never get through all of the information if I didn’t stop asking questions. (I’m sure the employee who told me that later wished she’d let me ask a few more, since we had to make several toll-free calls to them with numerous questions.)

We departed the rental agency at about 5:30 p.m. heading toward a campsite north of Thames hoping to find a place for dinner along the way. After the worst meal of our entire trip (Mark called it the worst meal of our 7 months in New Zealand), we arrived fairly late at the campground and all collapsed. The adrenalin of the past 24 hours had finally run out.